


Legally Dead

by buckyismymainman



Series: DC Comics One Shots [15]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:47:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26217361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buckyismymainman/pseuds/buckyismymainman
Summary: Jason died nearly two years ago.  People that knew and loved him mourned and moved on.  Now he’s back after being resurrected and trying to get the courts to declare him not dead.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Series: DC Comics One Shots [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1776175
Comments: 5
Kudos: 53





	Legally Dead

Jason had technically died. The joker had killed him and there had been a funeral and a grave site for him. His friends and family had mourned and slowly moved on with their lives. His death had made headlines in Gotham. Front page news articles in all caps shouting about how the second adopted son of Bruce Wayne had passed away.

Then Jason had come back.

He had been in limbo for a while, on his own traveling, being a vigilante. He wasn’t sure what he should do with his life. What could he do? He was dead.

Talia al Ghoul had taken him in after he had been resurrected and trained him, helped him. She helped him harness some of the anger that he felt towards Bruce and Joker and himself. He wasn’t the same as he was before he died, but then again who would be?

Now he was back in Gotham, back with Bruce and the others. He now had two new brothers. Tim and Damian. Both of whom had taken over the Robin role. There was also Cassandra and Duke. Coming back to Gotham had been hard especially when the others hadn’t known who he was. It had taken them a while to warm up to the idea that he was still alive. For the most part, he stayed out of the limelight. He didn’t do much or go anywhere during daylight hours.

Bruce had asked him if he wanted to come back, but Jason wasn’t ready for that just yet. He wasn’t sure if he ever would if he were being honest.

One day Tim had dragged him out of the manor to go get some software upgrades for his computers and someone had seen Jason and Tim together. Soon a photo was circulating around the internet with the captions “Is Jason Todd, long thought dead son of Bruce Wayne, still alive?”. 

Jason had wanted to bang his head against a wall after seeing the semi-blurry image of him and Tim together.

Soon there were conspiracy theories going around saying that Jason had faked his death, that he had been kidnapped and presumed dead, or that - and this was his favorite - he had been abducted by aliens.

“I think that was one of the theories Ryan presented on your episode of Buzzfeed Unsolved,” Dick said as he was scrolling through his Twitter feed which was going crazy with memes and theories galore about Jason. “Damian rolled his eyes and asked why any alien would want to abducted you.”

Jason shot a look at his younger brother, “I will have you know I am a delight to be around.”

Damian, unruffled by Jason’s glare, merely arched an eyebrow, “Keep telling yourself that, Todd.”

Bruce sauntered into the room and threw a Gotham Times down onto the table. In big, bold letters read JASON TODD HAS RETURNED. The boys all looked at Bruce who now had his arms crossed against his chest. “So are we confirming that you’re still alive or claiming that this is just someone that looks a lot like you?”

Jason read over the article. All it said was that someone had managed to capture and image of the supposed Jason Todd who had died early two years prior in a horrible, undisclosed accident. It also went into all the theories behind his disappearance - sans the alien abduction. He thought over his options and what he wanted to do from here. “Maybe it is time I come out of the shadows,” his gaze met Bruce’s. “There’s no way the people of the internet are gonna let this go. Especially if we say that it’s just someone who looks a lot like me.”

“I’ll set up a press release then,” Bruce said as he reached into his pocket to pull out his phone and make a few calls. He knew that this would be huge news and put a lot of pressure on Bruce. He also knew that he was going to have to get himself declared not dead with the courts which was going to be fun.

He just hoped that this would blow over rather quickly and he could get back to his life.

A few days later Jason was standing beside Bruce inside of Wayne Enterprises where a press conference was about to be held. It seemed like every reporter in Gotham and from all over the country had shown up to squeeze inside the tiny room that was meant for press releases just like this one. Suddenly Jason wondered if this was such a good idea.

The story was the Jason had been kidnapped by an unknown person and he had managed to escape back to Gotham. It was flimsy at best but what else could they say? Yeah he died, but somehow the timeline got screwed up and now he was back? That wouldn’t go over well with the public and then they would have a whole new set of questions to deal with.

Bruce stepped up to the podium and smiled at the crowd, “I know you all are anxious to ask your questions about Jason and where he’s been all this time. Please know that he’s had a very traumatic experience and we’re just happy to have him home. He’s safe and healthy and I’m grateful that he was able to make his way home. Please ask your questions one at a time and we’ll try to get to everyone before our time is up.”

Bruce motion for Jason to step up to the podium and stepped aside to allow him room. Jason stared out over the sea of faces and took a deep breath before choosing the first reporter to ask their question. All was going well until one asked, “So Mr. Todd are you going to have the courts declare you no longer legally dead?”

Jason gripped the sides of the podium and contemplated his answer, “I guess I should. I mean I’m clearly not dead. Bruce and I have been discussing it for some time now,” that was a lie, “but his main priority before subjecting me to that was just letting me get back into a normal routine.”

More hands shot up but Bruce came to the rescue and claimed that they were out of time for the day. He ushered Jason away some of the reporters shouting their questions at Jason in a last-ditch effort to get the answers they wanted.

“Well Shane this is a first for us,” Ryan was saying. Dick, Damian, and Tim were huddled around a laptop a week after the press release. Apparently Buzzfeed Unsolved had decided to add a continuation for Jason’s story on their show. “One of our unsolved cases has been semi-solved.”

“To be honest I didn’t ever think this was going to happen,” Shane said as he leaned back in his chair. “I mean come on. How did this guy survive so long in captivity?”

“I know!” Ryan shouted. “I mean yeah he’s home safe now, but who had him? Where was he? How did he escape? The answers at the press conference the Waynes held was flimsy at best.”

Jason closed the laptop effectively shutting Ryan and Shane up. “Hey!” Tim protested. “We were watching that.”

“And now you’re not,” Jason smirked at his younger brother. “Come on and get dressed. We have court in an hour and Bruce wants all of you looking your best.”

The three of them got up, grumbling about how they wanted to see Ryan’s new theories on Jason’s disappearance and if the alien story was going to come back up again. Bruce had been watching from the doorway, fixing his cufflinks. “Are you nervous?”

Jason looked at his adoptive father and shrugged, “Maybe a little? I didn’t think I would be going through this if I’m being honest. I hadn’t ever really planned to let people know that I was still alive. I liked the fact that I was ghost of some sort.”

“The boys and I will be there with you, Jason,” Bruce assured him. “And I know that these last few years have been hard on you. I’m sorry that I wasn’t there for you and I’m sorry that I let you down. There were many times when I wished I could go back and do that whole night over again.”

Jason felt a lump in his throat at Bruce’s words, “Listen it is what it is and it can’t be helped. We both made choices and now we’re here. Let’s just get this court hearing over with and try to move on with our lives.”

Reporters were swarming the courthouse when the Waynes’ car pulled up in front of the steps leading inside. They shouted Jason’s and Bruce’s names trying to get more for their stories. The whole city had been on the edges of their seats waiting for this day to come. Jason looked around and saw some people with signs saying “WELCOME BACK JASON”, “I LOVE YOU JASON”, “I KNEW YOU WERE ALIVE”. He chuckled and ducked his head trying to keep the photographers from seeing his smile.

Inside was much calmer but there were still people there to see the outcome of this court case today. The judge came and began reviewing the details of what had happened. She looked at Jason with an arched eyebrow, “Mr. Todd, is it true that you were held against your will and believed to be dead for the past two years?”

“Yes, your Honor,” Jason replied.

“And you wish to be declared no dead?”

“Yes, your Honor,” he said again.

The judge was quiet for a moment looking from her papers to Jason and back to her papers once again. She seemed to be mulling this over and Jason wondered why she had to think about this. Clearly he was alive so what was the problem?”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Todd. You will remain legally dead,” the judge pounded the gavel and Jason and Bruce shared a wide-eyed bewildered look with one another. Even Jason’s brothers shot out of their seats to protest, but the judge was already leaving the room. A hush fell over the room as everyone stared at each other in confusion.

“So does this mean that if I commit a crime that I can’t actually be charged with it because I’m not technically alive in the eyes of the court?” Jason asked causing Bruce to facepalm and the room to break out into laughter.

And from that day forward, despite the fact that he was very much alive, Jason was legally dead.

**Author's Note:**

> This was actually based on this post from Tumblr: https://brucie.tumblr.com/post/627768264906407936/this-happening-to-jason and I ran with it because a friend of mine had sent this to me and it gave me inspiration. I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
